When?
by Here Forever
Summary: The war for wizardkind had been won with many deaths and numerous sacrifices, but one last sacrifice was taken. One who deserved to see his achievements was ripped away and deposited in a time stream not his own, permanently.
1. Waking

I do not own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings, J.K. Rowling and JRR Tolkien do.

Now read and, hopefully, enjoy.

Pain ripped through his mind, soul, and body like an untamed wild fire, eager to destroy. The pain stopped all rational thought. It burned, and burned, and seemed never-ending.

"Owww…" The moan came out soft and pained its source shifted. His long, silver-streaked midnight hair fell back from the man's face. His eyelids fluttered open, and slightly hazy, emerald eyes greeted the sun. Harry lay there for a moment, and if you looked closely, you could see the haziness slowly start to drift away. He blinked softly one more time and slowly, carefully, sat up and brought his hand close to his face. He stared, fascinated, as though he had never seen it before.

Harry's eyes then left his hand, and he studied his surroundings with an air of wariness. He did not know where he was and that was odd in and of itself. Maybe he was in part of the Forbidden forest that he had not been to before? But that did not make sense as there were no creatures about and the forbidden forest had quite a number of eclectic beasts. After looking around he found that he could not even recognize most of the flora which sent his mind spinning. Unfortunately even his magic was not helping much in finding out his location. The best bet was trying to find someone or something that could speak to him, and tell him where on earth he had landed. Disliking his options, Harry sat down and once again stared at his hand hoping to answer the other questions popping into his head.

"Odd," he whispered. "I remember so much blinding pain, yet I can't feel my old wounds or even left-over aches. I still see my scars, but feel none of the usual pain."

Standing up Harry glanced around before sighing and running his hand through his hair in frustration. He had the worst luck ever he decided as he stared into the forest before picking a seemingly random direction, and setting off into the foliage. His pale skin was oddly visible among the trees and the speckled light of the setting sun filtering though the leaves as he quickly disappeared.


	2. Hello, where are you headed?

I do not own Harry Potter J. K. Rowling does, and Tolkien is responsible for Lord of the Rings.

Now read and hopefully enjoy!

Harry had been wandering about for close to two hours now and the sun was about to set. Normally he was a rather patient person but at the moment he was for lack of a better word, pissed. It seemed he had been dumped in a godforsaken forest in the middle of nowhere without even an iota of civilization. Not to mention his magic reserves were frighteningly low so teleporting was out of the question and he was at a place of unknown origins so he couldn't even apparate. Oh joy.

Snap. Every muscle in his body tensed as his eyes and ears tried to pick up the source of the disturbance. Ah, there about 8 feet to his left was a slightly uneven spot in a large maple tree. Straining his eyes harder he discovered it seemed to be a human-like creature. Dressed in soft greens and browns he blended right in with the forest. Even with his apparel assisting him in hiding Harry was surprised he hadn't noticed him before. His senses were extraordinarily sharp. Either the man had been there before Harry had approached or he had very, very soft footing. He slid a throwing knife into his palm just in case and stopped. Without looking in the direction of the person he said softly but clearly, "You can come out, I know you are there."

A small swish was the only noise made as the creature landed on the ground now easily visible. He looked human enough as far as basic anatomy went but something threw this calculation right out the window. He was far too in tune with the forest to be human and he had pointed ears, not to mention he was extremely graceful. As far as he knew no human had naturally pointy ears. He had a look of curiosity on his face and no visible weapons. Slowly as if he wasn't sure Harry would understand him he opened his mouth and said, "You speak Quenyan?"

"What I am speaking is my native tongue." Harry replied not knowing what Quenyan was.

"If that is your native tongue, where do you hail from?" the black-haired person asked. Seeing to harm in this question Harry introduced myself.

"I am Harry James Potter-Black of England"

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance Harry James of England, I am Erestor of the elven village Lindor."

"Would you please tell me where I am at the moment, I seem to be lost." He said as he crossed his fingers and hoped that the elf didn't realize he didn't even know what world he was in anymore, let alone where. His answer did absolutely nothing to reassure Harry.

"We are in Fangorn forest close to the Isen River."

Well shit. Once more taking a risk he asked, "Do you happen to be going anywhere I could follow?"

"I am fleeing more than going anywhere," he answered with a straight face. "However I am fleeing towards an army and if you would wish to accompany me, your intent must be one of joining said army."

An army and Harry thought he had finally quit joining wars. He was so going to hate myself for this later; more battle scars were not what he was aiming for. "Then if you allow it I will accompany you and join the army, Erestor of Lindor." Harry said as he decided that a little help was better than none.

His only answer was an uncertain smile and a slight nod. He headed off with Harry falling in stride behind him. His hope was that whatever army this Erestor-elf was heading towards wasn't the bad side of the fight.

Please review! I am not sure of the spellings so if anyone can correct any errors please let me know! The sooner I get reviews and ideas, the sooner an update will come.


	3. An Old Companion and a Hero Complex

I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does and Tolkien is responsible for the Lord of the Rings!

Now read and enjoy!

Two days of traveling and the companions were still strangers to each other. Surprise, surprise although Harry had managed to glean some more information about the war this world was currently in. A Dark Lord called Sauron lived in a land called Mordor and wanted to rule all of Middle Earth. He had a large army of deformed beings called orcs and goblins who rode ugly looking wolf-like things called wargs occasionally. Also he has nine generals called the Nazgul that sound creepily similar to Dementors. In other words a cliché evil egomaniac bent on destroying life as we know it, and he thought he was done dealing with those kinds of people. Harry's only comfort was that Erestor actually seemed to be on the not evil and bent on domination side of the fight.

The only other semi-important fact he had learned was that there are apparently dwarves and men in the land as well. There are many more men than dwarves though as many of the dwarves "just stuck themselves in their little holes and looked the other way", that is an Erestor quote. Erestor's descriptions of them did not put them in a positive light, but Harry was willing to hold off judgment because there seemed to be a feud of sorts going on. He had asked after wizards and been told about a group of five Istari that were sent by the Valar. It seems as though only three of them have made themselves known however. They did not seem all that powerful though as they came in guise of elderly men, but then again Dumbledore did not look that powerful either.

"Hooot", Harry looked up startled at the sound, he had thought that owls wre nocturnal here as well. 'Ahh', Harry though, 'Erestor has his bow loaded; they must usually be nocturnal here as well. Why is there an owl out and about?' "Thump," the sound echoed oddly as said owl landed surprisingly heavy on a tree branch a little to the left of Erestor. Whaa…

"Hedwig?!" Harry fairly shouted in shock.

"This creature of the night belongs to you?" Erestor's look as he stated this plainly said that he did not believe that was possible.

"Yes, but I was under the impression she had passed on. Come here, girl", Harry commanded warily and the owl took off and landed on his outstretched arm. The look of shock on Erestor's normally stoic face brought a smirk out. Then his smirk faded as he thought that this must be a dream because Hedwig had died years ago. Come on pull yourself together Harry. An indignant hoot and a stare that said, 'Of course I am here you idiot' convinced Harry, this was Hedwig. How many other snowy owls exist that are able to mother better than both Minerva McGonagall and Molly Weasley.

"Well aren't you full of surprises girl. How'd you follow me here, eh?"he murmured, after all pets do not just rise from the dead or transport themselves into different worlds; even if said animal's master was transported to the previously mentioned other worlds.

"How did you train a wild creature of the night?" the question took Harry off guard as he had forgotten about Erestor in his excitement. This was not good; if he had been so unaware just a week ago he would be dead. A new world did not mean he could relax his guard, if anything it should be the exact opposite. He still did not know what all was out there. Constant Vigilance had saved his life more than once after all.

"Harry James, did you not hear my question?" Erestor queried as he remained silent.

This time Harry answered, "I apologize-I did hear your question and I was just thinking. Hedwig was not trained by me but over the years she has proven herself to be a good and loyal companion."

"I do not mean to pry but how did you get her?" Now this question surprised Harry as Erestor had carefully skirted around topics that had to do with anything personal. Harry guess he hoped that if he didn't ask personal questions he wouldn't be asked any either.

"A close friend who worked with animals gave her to me for my eleventh birthday." Well that was partly true, Hagrid was good with animals and he had become a close friend.

"Birthday?" Erestor's tone of puzzlement and look of confusion asked more questions than the simple word did.

"A birthday is the day you were born, so my eleventh birthday was eleven years since my birth."

"A day of rememberance", the single statement seemed unsure.

"Yes", Harry confirmed and Erestor looked pleased with himself for understanding this concept. Little things like this had led to Harry's belief that he was younger than the twenty or thirty years he had first assumed he was. The first day they had traveled together Erestor had appeared startled at Harry's question of what he planned to do once he reached the army he was seeking. Either he was impulsive or a person with not enough experience to plan that far ahead. He had never answered the question.

"How much farther to you believe we have to trek to reach this army of yours?"

"I believe we only have about 6 more leagues until we reach the mountains and the base we are heading toward is directly on the opposite side of the mountains. It should only take about three or four more days of travel to get there, depending on the weather and if we run into trouble or not."

"Are you expecting trouble in the mountains?"If he was expecting an attack he had better tell Harry now so he would not just wander into enemy infested territory without forewarning.

"Orcs and goblins are known for hiding in the mountains but I do not believe there will be any trouble on a road often traveled by the army's scouts and troops."

"Assumptions like that are not very productive to living." Harry stated dryly.

"And what would you know of that? As far as I see you are young and you yourself said you had not participated in the war." His indignation just lent more support to the idea of his youth and inexperience.

"Several years ago I would have bit your head off for that comment. And I believe I am right in the assumption that you have not seen battle despite your ease with both your bow and blade. Also I stated that I had no involvement in this war, I said nothing about any other war. I may not have fought in this war but I am by no means a novice as I have been fighting for over half of my life."

Well that was a nice little tirade, Harry thought-he should do that more often though it does seem to have enraged Erestor. His face should not be turning red and if he grips his bow any harder it will snap.

"Hooot" the loud noise and fierce peck brought my attention away from the elf and to Hedwig; the owl that was currently glaring at Harry and pecking his ear rather hard, seemingly to demand immediate attention.

"Wha..."

"HOOT"

"Hedwig what are you doing...shit. DUCK!"

At Harry's shout Erestor had ducked despite his anger towards him at the present moment. It was a good thing to as there was now an arrow quivering in a tree behind where he was standing seconds ago. No words were needed as Hedwig took off and both owl and wizard looked around and then started sprinting. Erestor jumped from his position on the ground and took off after them. Now how the heck had almost two dozen orcs (at least Harry was assuming they were orcs) managed to sneak up on both of them. He was under the impression that they were loud, clumsy and smelly.

"OW AHH"

The pained yell brought Harry to a stop and he turned around and ran to Erestor who had just wiped out. He reached out to lift the elf when he noticed why he had wiped out in the first place.

"Damn, an arrow to the leg how lovely."

"They are going to catch up" he panted in response, agony written across his face. It looked like this was his first time getting shot.

"Well, Hermione always said I had an idiotic hero complex." Harry muttered drawing his sword and wand, and then promptly ducking as another arrow missed his head by centimeters. The crashing sound of the horde following them came closer and the arrows more numerous as Erestor sat there, drew his bow and hissed, "You really are an idiot, just go there are two dozen orcs and I am a sitting target."

"You really don't know me and stop acting like a martyr; martyrdom isn't all that great trust me." I stated dryly as the orcs came into our line of vision. His shaky breaths were really not reassuring me. Unless the arrow had been poisoned or he broken ribs when he hit the ground his breathing should be fine. As the orcs finally came into their line of vision his breathing pace increased, wow he really hadn't been in battle before, Harry thought. Damn, why wasn't he shooting-Harry glanced over and realized he was frozen and tense.

"Just shoot the damn things, they are getting closer!" he said in exasperation, of all the times to freeze up why now.

"Right, shooting" he mumbled before aiming and releasing.

With Erestor picking them off as they came, Harry got his chance to attack as the sheer numbers allowed several to get close.

"Come here little orcies, time to die." he said in a sing-song voice, finally he gets to see what this world's evil minions fight like.

He had invited them so nicely and their response was to snarl and growl, how rude. Bringing up my wand he smiled, time for him to play after all ha has to see how his magic affects them, doesn't he?

Feel free to review and point out any errors you see!


	4. Questions and camp

Once again I do not own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings!

"I think that was the last one," Harry's voice seemed to startle Erestor; Harry did not believe that sudden movement was good for the elf's wound or his shaking body.

"The last one?" for some reason he sounded rather disbelieving. Turning around Harry was ready to deliver a tirade about, 'of course that was the last one there were only twelve and twelve are dead!', when he noticed that Erestor seemed to be in disbelief about something else. Wait a minute, his wound! Harry was used to dealing with battle hardened humans who were used to being in pain and fighting. If this was his first fight he might be going into shock.

"Here let me look at your leg and see if I can pull out the arrow." Erestor said nothing against that so Harry promptly grabbed his leg and tried to see if pulling out the arrow would make it worse.

"The last one!" he repeated rather loudly, "By the Valar! Why did you not tell me you were a Maia!"

"Whaa…" that was not what Harry had expected to hear. "Ow! Hedwig what was that for!" That bloody owl was biting Harry's ear for absolutely no bloody reason. Then he turned to Erestor and realized why she bit him. "Oh," Erestor was very pale and he looked ready to puke, not to mention having eyes that wide could not be healthy.

"Well I am not one of your bloody Maiyer or whatever, but I do have to take this arrow out and you will not be walking for at least a week." That seemed to bring him right out of his little awe fest.

"What! We cannot sit here for a week! Anyways I heal faster than that; this wound should be gone in about four days, not seven." Hmmm…faster healing, interesting, another thing to add to Harry's growing list of differences between elves and humans.

"Not to mention that you have your magic. Can you not do something with it?" The slight undercurrent of anger in his tone took me by surprise.

"Now wait just a minute mister fancy-pants elf, if you are pissed because I didn't tell you about my magic, then you are a hypocrite." How dare he, he was less than forthcoming himself. Not to mention he was the one that saved the pointy ear's ass!

"Why I never!" he huffed. "I am not a fancy-pants whatever, and you should not use such crude language."

"Crude language?" Oh Merlin, Harry should probably stop laughing, the elf was looking rather offended, but crude language! Just how sheltered was Erestor? "How old are you, a mere eleven years old. Crude language is not fancy-pants and pissed."

Oh…now he was turning red, maybe Harry shouldn't have mentioned the age thing, or was it something else?

"I will have you know Harry James that I came of age fifteen years past. I am not eleven years old." Okay it was the age thing, he looks like a tomato!

"Well, what is your coming of age then ten?" He wanted to see if Erestor would answer that as he was usually close-lipped on such matters, and he was curious. Elves seemed to live longer than humans and he wanted that theory either proven or binned.

"150 human," he spat out, of course then he lost his bright red color. Now he looked more like parchment and, well now he looked like a dead man.

"Huh? So you are 165? No wonder you are so inexperienced. It isn't like you are old enough to have experience." The sarcasm in my voice was heavy enough to sink a small fleet.

"Well…I…That is why I didn't want you to know!" his outburst surprised me. Sheesh, did he not know the meaning of the word sarcasm?

"Joking, elf-man, jeesh." Harry murmured, of course then the elf had to gape like a fish.

"All done," Harry declared as he knotted the last tie on his bandages causing the elf to start again.

"I did not even notice you taking the arrow out. How did you do that?"

"Practice, now sit tight little elf, while I go get some firewood." Harry threw back as he swept into the woods after making sure Erestor wasn't going to move for awhile. Then he got back to thinking, with his reactions he must be either very young by his people's standards, which seems rather fantastical or unbearably sheltered. "Or both.."Harry mumbled out loud.

Erestor watched Haarry sweep out of the camp and finally relaxed. Harry James of England was a puzzle. He said he was no Maia but he used magic! And such powerful magic! It utterly demolished several orcs and was such beautiful colors!

Although now that he knew of Erestor's inexperience and young age, what if he decided that the elf was too bothersome? Or even looked down upon him for not telling him sooner?

Rolling over Erestor yelped and winced, "Okay, bad idea" he muttered. That had hurt, although examining my bandaged leg he was surprised. Erestor was a novice at medicine but even he could tell it had been wrapped expertly. Harry James had also managed to distract me while he did it, which was not an easy feat. He was usually observant. Hopefully Harry was wrong when he stated seven days for healing. Lord Gil-Galad's army was just over the mountains!

That brought him back to his earlier thoughts, what if Harry James no longer allowed him to seek out the army? With his magic he could surely stop him.

"Whoot" the sharp sound brought Erestor's head up. The white owl that had found his magical companion was staring at him. He shivered, that bird seemed unusually intelligent, well that and it was cold out. He hoped that Harry James comes back with firewood soon, the stars were not shining very brightly and some firelight would be most appreciated.

Sorry for the long wait and short chapter but life does not slow for anyone!


	5. Complaint and a Plan

I do not own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings!

Two days later Erestor was doing much better and Harry was still refusing to be called a Maia. Although that was not the only thing causing arguments between the two travelers, as there was quite a larger gap between elf and human than Harry had first realized.

"Two days is not nearly long enough Erestor, so no." Harry ground out. And he had thought wizards were stubborn!

"But I am largely healed and as long as we take breaks and do not push ourselves I will be fine."

"No, it has not fully scabbed and I don't want it reopening."

"Look Harry James, you do not know elvish healing; even as we walk it will continue to heal."

"No."

"You are being unreasonable, we need to-"

"No you want to, and it is a stupid idea" by now Harry was making an effort not to hit the damn elf. No meant no and he wasn't going to change his mind.

"But if-"

"Shut up and we can leave tomorrow morning."

Finally some peace and quiet! Erestor had been nagging to leave since the sun had risen and it was already on its way down. Harry looked at the fire and sighed, even if they were leaving in the morning keeping a small fire going until then would be a good idea.

"I wish conjured wood could burn like actual wood." Harry muttered staring dejectedly at the miniscule pile of sticks left. He would have to gather more before they bedded down.

"Conjured wood?" Erestor piped up obviously deciding that they would be leaving in the morning even if he talked.

"I can make wood with magic but unfortunately since it would be composed of magic instead of burning when it is set on fire it would just slowly disappear and not leave coals or heat." Harry explained in what he was starting to call his 'lecture-the-annoyingly-inquisitive-elf' voice. Every single time he had even mentioned something in the past two days Erestor had wanted to know how, when, where, and why. It was understandable but still, it was tiring.

"Oh" Erestor said blinking looking at the fire and then at Harry.

Harry sighed again and then stood up, dusted off his pants, glared at Erestor, ordered him to stay and whirled around and slinked into the forest muttering about damn firewood and little elves.

Erestor stared at the place Harry had entered the forest and shrugged, Maia were odd, he had decided. Especially Maia who said that they were not Maia and then went ahead and did magic anyways, although he did wonder about the name because there was grey, brown and white but England he had never heard of.

Sorry about the wait but life waits for no one. This is a slight filler but it leads up to the next chapter which will be longer and livelier.

In answer to a question this will not be slash, in fact the only romance will be mentions of already married couples, and they will be couples from Tolkien's books.


	6. Agree

Once again I do not own Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter!

"Finally!" Erestor mumbled as Harry took the bandages off his leg. He had told him that elves healed fast but the Maia had still refused to move on until he was satisfied with the healing.

"Oh, don't be so impatient. This army of yours is not going to just stop existing if we take a little longer."

"No, it won't. But it is possible for the army to start marching without us and then we would never be able catch up."

Harry looked at Erestor incredulously, "You do realize how slow an army moves, right?"

Erestor just looked at him and Harry face-palmed.

"An army is huge-huge things do not move fast, even when they want to. Regardless of your army's speed we can easily catch up to them because we don't have to worry about supply lines and reinforcements."

"We should still get moving." Erestor pointed out, sounding anxious to be mobile again.

"True enough" Harry sighed as he stood and offered a hand up to Erestor.

Both were silent as Harry vanished the fire ashes and Erestor finished packing his blanket. Erestor shouldered his pack, glanced to see if Harry had finished and they both continued their trek towards the army. Only a little after midday Erestor realized that Harry had begun calling the army 'his' army instead of 'my' or 'our'.

"Harry of England, why are you referring to King Gil-Galad's army as mine, is it not also your destination?"

Harry hesitated, "It is now my destination but I do not think that I will be fighting."

Erestor stopped, "Then you lied to me." He was furious at what he saw as being played for a fool.

"What?! I have not lied to you!" Harry was indignant-he had saved Erestor's life and now the elf was calling him a liar!

"When I first encountered you, you stated that you wished to follow me and join the army!"

"Not to fight, I si-", but before Harry could explain Erestor interrupted.

"Then to do what! All an Army does is fight. Why should you even-"

"Erestor" Harry growled hoping to have Erestor stop and at least think before he got even more pissed off.

At this Erestor stopped and realized that he had not allowed Harry to explain his reasoning-Harry had helped him thus far and it was common courtesy to at least let him explain.

"I apologize for my temper, but clear up your meaning as I wish to know presently if you have no plan of keeping your word."

"I plan to talk and heal. I have had plenty of fighting and will only do so if necessary. Is that clear enough? I have broken no word of mine. I simply said I would join, not in what capacity." Honestly, were all elves that inexperienced in wordplay?

"But you are a powerful warrior and you could do much good with your sword and gift of magic!"

"I do not plan on using my magic-in fact if you would be kind enough no one but you shall know of my magic." And if he was not kind enough Harry was thinking what memory spells would affect elves the same way they do humans.

Harry had been dwelling on these thoughts for the past several days, and at first he had used magic simply because he had not thought that it was uncommon. That was a mistake on his part. He did not want to be looked at as overly powerful, or some messenger from the gods as Erestor seemed to think. If magic brought about such he reactions he would simply not show his magic.

"Why?" Erestor sounded confused now, "your magic could ensure victory for the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth…Why should you hide it? And why should I?"

Harry was silent as he continued walking.

Before bedding down that night Erestor announced that they would be within scouting distance of the army by midday tomorrow. As he unrolled his blankets he glanced at Harry and said stiffly, "If it is truly your wish I will not reveal your gifts Harry. Not because I agree with you but because I owe you that much. But keep in mind that I do not agree with this period."

With that he laid down his back facing Harry.

"That is all I ask." Harry said softly as he stared at Erestor's back. He was glad that Erestor was agreeing not to mention his magic; _Obliviate_ always left a dirty taste in his mouth. Not to mention the problems that would occur if the spell worked differently on elves.


End file.
